If you have a blog or any other web site for that matter, it must have occurred to you that you potentially have an income stream ready to be tapped to your financial advantage! It isn't quite that simple though, what will work well for one type of blog will be the pits for another.
Here are the main options which should help you make an informed choice.
AdSense Run by search engine giant, Google, this is an advertising programme which is free to sign up to and pays for each click received from participating websites.
There is some control over what kind of ads display on your site, but even so, be prepared for inappropriate ads especially if your blog is covering a very small niche.
The main problem with AdSense is Google doesn't reveal how much you get per click.
It is known to be very small and unless your blog or website receives huge amounts of traffic, you are unlikely to earn much from running AdSense.
You also face the problem of the ads luring visitors from your site.
Amazon One of the largest online retailers of books, videos, games and various other merchandise, the Amazon associates programme is worth considering if you run a niche site.
Pay outs are percentage based and Amazon has a lot of tools available to help you make sales.
Amazon run country specific sites so visit yours, scroll to the bottom and look for the Amazon Associate link.
Recurring subscriptions Having a membership area of your blog which entails recurring subscriptions can be extremely lucrative.
You must offer worthwhile content and be prepared to be active in your community.
Subscriptions are easily collected through PayPal which has its own recurring subscription programme.
Most blogging platforms have plugins to utilise this including the every popular WordPress.
Sponsorship This one is worth considering if you are getting good traffic to your site.
It can work in various ways.
You may have to post extensively about the product or service your sponsor is involved in or they may be satisfied with just banner display ads on each page.
Whatever you negotiate, do ensure the sponsorship fee reflects what you are offering.
Affiliate programs These can be very lucrative as long as you select one of the highest paying affiliate programs in your niche.
There are hundreds and hundreds to choose from so you are bound to find something related to your topic.
Payouts vary, but can range from a few pence to many pounds or dollars.
Ebooks Creating your own ebook on your niche topic is one of the most lucrative ways of making money from your blog.
They do not have to be long, 30 - 60 pages is about the average, but must contain detailed, useful information.
They are usually delivered in PDF format as digital downloads which means production costs are minimal.
To be successful though, you need good marketing skills as well as writing skills.
Private Ads If you have a reasonable amount of regular traffic to your site you might be able to sell advertising space to private advertisers.
Most blogging platforms have plugins which will allow you to easily create custom ads and for most new bloggers, these will certainly be more lucrative than Google's AdSense.
Although I don't push advertising on my membership site, I usually have two or three ads running at £5 per month.
Not a fortune, but every little helps!